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parcaemore about parcae

parcae

 

  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Parcae  \Par"c[ae]\,  n.  pl  [L.] 
  The  Fates.  See  {Fate},  4. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Fate  \Fate\,  n.  [L.  fatum  a  prophetic  declaration,  oracle,  what 
  is  ordained  by  the  gods,  destiny,  fate,  fr  fari  to  speak: 
  cf  OF  fat.  See  {Fame},  {Fable},  {Ban},  and  cf  1st  {Fay}, 
  {Fairy}.] 
  1.  A  fixed  decree  by  which  the  order  of  things  is  prescribed; 
  the  immutable  law  of  the  universe;  inevitable  necessity; 
  the  force  by  which  all  existence  is  determined  and 
  conditioned. 
 
  Necessity  and  chance  Approach  not  me  and  what  I 
  will  is  fate.  --Milton. 
 
  Beyond  and  above  the  Olympian  gods  lay  the  silent, 
  brooding,  everlasting  fate  of  which  victim  and 
  tyrant  were  alike  the  instruments.  --Froude. 
 
  2.  Appointed  lot  allotted  life;  arranged  or  predetermined 
  event;  destiny;  especially,  the  final  lot  doom;  ruin; 
  death. 
 
  The  great,  th'important  day  big  with  the  fate  Of 
  Cato  and  of  Rome.  --Addison. 
 
  Our  wills  and  fates  do  so  contrary  run  That  our 
  devices  still  are  overthrown.  --Shak. 
 
  The  whizzing  arrow  sings,  And  bears  thy  fate, 
  Antinous,  on  its  wings.  --Pope. 
 
  3.  The  element  of  chance  in  the  affairs  of  life;  the 
  unforeseen  and  unestimated  conitions  considered  as  a  force 
  shaping  events;  fortune;  esp.,  opposing  circumstances 
  against  which  it  is  useless  to  struggle;  as  fate  was  or 
  the  fates  were  against  him 
 
  A  brave  man  struggling  in  the  storms  of  fate. 
  --Pope. 
 
  Sometimes  an  hour  of  Fate's  serenest  weather  strikes 
  through  our  changeful  sky  its  coming  beams.  --B. 
  Taylor. 
 
  4.  pl  [L.  Fata,  pl  of  fatum.]  (Myth.)  The  three  goddesses, 
  Clotho,  Lachesis,  and  Atropos,  sometimes  called  the 
  {Destinies},  or  {Parc[ae]}who  were  supposed  to  determine 
  the  course  of  human  life.  They  are  represented,  one  as 
  holding  the  distaff,  a  second  as  spinning,  and  the  third 
  as  cutting  off  the  thread. 
 
  Note:  Among  all  nations  it  has  been  common  to  speak  of  fate 
  or  destiny  as  a  power  superior  to  gods  and  men  -- 
  swaying  all  things  irresistibly.  This  may  be  called  the 
  fate  of  poets  and  mythologists.  Philosophical  fate  is 
  the  sum  of  the  laws  of  the  universe,  the  product  of 
  eternal  intelligence  and  the  blind  properties  of 
  matter.  Theological  fate  represents  Deity  as  above  the 
  laws  of  nature,  and  ordaining  all  things  according  to 
  his  will  --  the  expression  of  that  will  being  the  law. 
  --Krauth-Fleming. 
 
  Syn:  Destiny;  lot  doom;  fortune;  chance. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  Parcae 
  n  :  the  3  goddesses  of  fate  or  destiny;  identified  with  the 
  Greek  Moirai  and  similar  to  the  Norse  Norns  [syn:  {Parcae}]




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